Cool, Casual, Cute and other C-words

Cool, casual and cute…maturity can be defined by not striving to be those things.  Being genuine.  Some people are cool, some aren’t.  I was blessed figuring that out, for the most part, early.

Watching high school basketball and seeing incoming college freshman, I think that is our problem.  Our sport looks immature.  Players look to be cool, or casual versus effective, or, a great c-word, caring.  It’s ok to care.

Let the cat out the bag and let people know you care about being good. Warm-up, compete and adjust like it matters.  Not that you just want to look good but actually be good.  If you don’t care, own that too.  If you don’t really care, then be the fun guy.  Just don’t fake it.

Lay it on the line and compete and try to be a great teammate.  When it does not go your way, control your emotions and try to get better.  Work hard.

Don’t be too cool or casual for coaching (another good c-word).  Listen, make eye contact and try to get better.  It’s okay to care, coaches love that and when they know you care, they will naturally work even harder to help you get better.

But we have too many young players that hold back, thinking about how they appear.  In workouts, in games etc.  What people think, and not always the right people (yes, parents aren’t expert on everything and, as a parent, I can say this is a fact we are not always aware of), is too much of a concern.

Maybe because everything ends up online but we need to commit (great c-word).  Consciously commit to being the best we can be and caring about that more than how we appear.  It takes confidence.

Basketball should teach that.  What’s the solution?  Accepting the challenge, being humble that we can get better and being ok if people figure out we need to get better.  Adults stop defending how good a young person is (especially your kid!) and accept they can get better.  We all can.